Linn Akito with Denon DL103

[Glitterbug]

Hello forum,

I am currently undergoing a few DIY projects, one of them having a Technics 1210, a Linn Akito and a Denon DL103. I have successfully mounted the new arm on the Technics, with an arm board from the great guys of SoundSupports in the UK.

Now comes the difficult part. I am trying to mount the Denon DL103 on the Linn Akito, with the help of the IsoKinetic DL103 set to enhance the arm mass by 3gr. But his damn head shell is so incredibly small and the Denon so incredibly huge that I have a hard time fitting the cart in the shell, or better, still connecting the cart with the headshell leads. Any of you that tried that before? What would happen if I pull the cart a little further out? Any hints or tricks?

(and please don't bash me for using a DD turntable... )

[dpedrioli]

I mounted a DL103 on Akito for a Thorens TD-125 without any enhancement... and I'm perfectly satisfied of the results!

[Glitterbug]

Could you maybe send me a picture of the headshell from top and bottom and how you connected the cables? I am really trying, but I can't fit it somehow, and I already broke two of the headshell leads... the cables of course, not the pins on the cartridge or the arm. That would really be of greatest help.

[Alec124c41]

Don't know the Akito arm, but I have found it necessary to put wires onto the cartridge before mounting because of tight space. Baerwald alignment gives a bit more space than Steveson.

Cheers,
Alec

[Glitterbug]

Don't know the Akito arm, but I have found it necessary to put wires onto the cartridge before mounting because of tight space. Baerwald alignment gives a bit more space than Steveson.

Thank you, but I have to admit that I would need your help here. How does one calculate the right alignment with Baerwald, given a fixed mounting point of an arm on a turntable, an obviously fixed arm length plus a certain pickup cartridge?

Until now, I always thought that the placement of the needle is a given according to the arm that is used. Until now I wasn't aware that there are different alignments, please pardon my ignorance!

Help would be very much appreciated!!

[Glitterbug]

Allright, I did a fair amount of reading on the matter today. And after understanding what Baerwald, Stevens and the others meant, I stumbled upon the Loefgren method which actually leaves even more space in the headshell, and all is good!

Baerwald and Stevens both don't work, and considering the various theories / the reasoning between the methods, Loefgren makes the most sense to me. I haven't had a chance to actually listen to the outcome, since I am also revising my Quad 405 and at the moment it's in pieces... and I don't have another power amp at hand.

Many thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!

[sktn77a]

Try bending the pin connectors on the headshell leads so they don't foul the back of the headshell. A common tweak on the Ekos which has a similar sized headshell.

[audioorigami]

i do a mod where i remove the headshell connector terminal block in the headshell..this leaves a little more room for the denon and ortofon blue carts

[palewin]

A question triggered by this thread on Denon cartridges, and the similar thread about mounting Ortofon cartridges in an Akito arm. In both cases, Audioorigami indicated that one solution to the problem was a modification to the Akito, removing a junction block. Does anyone know if the Ittok and Ekos arms share the same "limited mounting room" issue making the mounting of non-Linn cartridges a problem? From what I read, the Basik and Akito arms are somewhat restricted regarding the cartridges which will fit without some sort of modification.

[audioorigami]

the ittok headshells are a little longer than the akito so generally only longer headshell leads would be needed in extreme cases

the newer ekos headshell is a little smaller than the ittok so on some long carts may be slight issues

[sktn77a]

The Ekos had a similar (same?) headshell as the Akito. The Ittok, as explained by AudioOrigami, didn't have this problem as the headshell was a little longer.